PRISMYALE I N STITUTE O F SACR E D MU S IC

“Common ground“for musicians“and ministers,“for scholars“and practitioners.”

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 2 V O L U M E X I N U M B E R 4 Y A L E U N I V E R S I T Y

Also in this IssueAlumni & Faculty News ......................... Page 2

African Art .................................................... Page 3

Placement Listings ................................... Page 4

Notes on the Staff .................................... Page 5

Up With a Shout! Redux ........................... Page 6

Religion and Literature: A Christmas Story— Lana Schwebel

“Lord, how this weather is cold!” One of the best-known dramas ofthe Nativity in fifteenth-century England doesn’t begin with Mary orJoseph or the baby Jesus, but with a cluster of shepherds complainingabout the weather. We’re not told much about them, but we’re soonmade aware of the harsh conditions under which they labor; each onehas a tale of an especially harsh master who shows no mercy.

Before we can get to the miracle of the Nativity, the anony-mous dramatist of the Second Shepherd’s Pageant means to takeus through the trials and travails of a group of shepherds whohave to work overtime in the winter. I suspect that this prefa-tory tale has personal meaning to many of my students, whohave to step up their paper-writing efforts just as the holidayseason approaches. (It also has personal meaning to me, asthe weather outside as I type this is a brisk fifteen degreesFahrenheit!) This past semester, students in the medieval En-glish drama seminar have learned how to read Middle En-glish; they’ve analyzed texts ranging from Corpus Christi cycleplays to morality dramas to modern texts; they have writtenanalytical essays and bibliographies and given presentations.

Not only are the shepherds of the pageant overworked and un-derpaid, they have to contend with the theft of one of their sheep.

By contrast, literature students have lost not sheep but sleep,as they contended with the texts of a period so deeply foreignthat I often say that it seems Martian. This past semester, bothliterature courses dealt largely with texts from the Middle Ages,with some examination of how they were transformed in theEarly Modern period. In the first half of the Christian Allegorysurvey, we explored the poetry of the fourteenth century, with

students learning how to readMiddle English in order to readPearl, Sir Gawain and the GreenKnight, and Piers Plowman in theiroriginal language. And in the Me-dieval English Drama seminar, wespent weeks on the fifteenth-cen-tury Corpus Christi andWhitsuntide cycle plays fromnorthern England, as well as mo-rality plays from the same period

such as Everyman, Mankind, and The Castle of Perseverance. Mak, the scoundrel who’s stolen the sheep, attempts to hide it

by disguising it as a child; the shepherds come to pay their respects.We can see here the suggestion of what’s to come in this distortedpresentation of the nativity; while the shepherds have no idea of theprivilege that awaits them, the audience members are reminded herethat things will get much better for these miserable men.

Transformation has also served as a central focal pointfor the literature classes, as we examined the transformationswrought in the Early Modern period on earlier poetic modes.We saw, for example, how Spenser’s protestant poetics trans-lated medieval romance and allegory into courtly epic — andhow Marlowe and Shakespeare transformed the fifteenth-cen-tury morality play by suggesting the interior life of characters.

When the shepherds do, at last, catch Mak, they have mercyon him and punish him gently – even though his crime is great. Theplaywright uses this depiction of mercy to justify the selection ofthese shepherds as visitors to the baby Jesus.

Continued on page 2

Below: Mosaic, c. 425, Ravenna, Mausoleum of Galla Placida

At left: Royal Portal – right bay,shepherds (detail), c. 1145-1155,Chartres, Cathedral of Notre Dame

PRISM is published ten times a yearby the Yale Institute of Sacred Music

Margot E. Fassler, Director409 Prospect St.New Haven, CT 06511Telephone 203 432 5180Fax 203 432 5296

Editor: Melissa Maier, melissa.maier@yale.edu

Alumni News and Job Placement Guest Editor:Sarah Hare, ism.alumni@yale.edu

Layout and Design: Elaine Piraino-Holevoet, PIROET

Photos: Pages 1 and 2 , slides courtesy of Jaime Laraand the ISM; Pages 3 and 4, photographs of artworkcourtesy of Ray Dirks; Page 4, reception photo byMelissa Maier; Page 5, staff photo by Robert A. Lisak;Page 6, winter scene by Robert A. Lisak.

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ISMMark Swicegood ’00 was awarded an Honorable Mention inthe 4th International Organ Competition of the City of Paris whichwas held November 8 - 17. The competition took place over atwo-week period at various locations in Paris, notably the RoyalChapel at Versailles, Ste. Clothilde and St. Eustache. The jury,presided over by Marie-Claire Alain, comprised internationalpersonalities. No Grand Prix was awarded. Swicegood was theonly American to pass the first round and the only American toplace in the finals in the history of the competition.

UTSDr. Karl E. Moyer ’59 has retired after a career spanning 51years as a church organist. He began in 1951 at the end of 8th

grade as organist at former First Lutheran Church across fromthe college church in Annville. His last post was as Organist/Director of Music at Grace Lutheran Church, Lancaster,Pennsylvania, where he and his wife Carolyn Schairer Moyer’59 continue in the Senior Choir. Moyer retired from his recitalcareer in 1998 but will come out of recital retirement for severalprograms in spring and summer 2003, most notably for theOrgan Historical Society convention.

FACULTYProfessor Bryan Spinks was a Discussant at the Worshipand World Christianity Colloquium held at Yale on December7th. On leave next fall, Professor Spinks has been elected aVisiting Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Religious andTheological Research at the Divinity Faculty, CambridgeUniversity, and an Overseas Fellow at Churchill College,Cambridge for the Michaelmas Term 2003. He has also beenawarded a Conant Fund Grant by the Episcopal Church tofund research for a proposed book, Enlightenment,Evangelicalism and Eclecticism: Sacramental Theology and Liturgyin England and Scotland 1662-1800.

ALUMNI & FACULTY NEWS

In what mightbe seen as a per-sonal choice ofmercy (thoughyou’d have to askmy students), nextsemester promisesto go a bit lighteron the MiddleAges. As the Alle-gory course con-tinues into its sec-ond part, we’ll ex-amine allegory’sshift from being a marker of “high” literature in the MiddleAges and Early Modern period into its survival as a messypopular form, beginning with Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Toextend the course into interdisciplinary work, we’ll be lookingat Blake’s poetic and artistic works, as well as the poems ofChristopher Smart, whose works are perhaps better knownthrough their musical settings. Also in the works is a seminaron Milton; while Yale suffers from no scarcity of courses onMilton’s poetry, our course will spend equal time on Milton’sprose, as his theological and political works are often givenshort shrift.

“That was an exquisite voice, that ever I heard,”proclaims oneof the shepherds of the angelic voice that announces the nativity tohim, signaling the shift of the drama from the world of sheep andcold and complaint to the world of miracles.

As I reach the end of my first semester of teaching at theISM, I’d like to indulge in a brief personal note. While I havealways learned a great deal from my students in the past, rarelyhas my “reverse education” been so abundant or enriching:over the course of the semester, I’ve been taught a bit aboutAfrican drumming, organ improvisation, and apocalyptic ico-nography, from students who are musicians and poets, aspir-ing scholars and ministers. It has also been my great pleasureto teach students who can make connections to worlds be-

A Christmas Story continued from page 1 yond the text, whether these ties are to Scripture, to contem-porary church practice, or to a topic considered in anothercourse. In fact, one of the pleasures of working within amultidisciplinary program has been in seeing students syn-thesize their classwork and render it relevant to other fields.For example, as we read Dante’s Purgatorio in our Allegoryclass, students shared relevant material from Jaime Lara’sApocalypticism course. Thus, while I look forward to report-ing on the progress of the Religion and Literature componentof the ISM in the future, I also expect to recognize my ownprogress in teaching it.

“We are bound to sing!” exclaim the shepherds at the drama’send, having experienced a miracle that they cannot describe in simplewords. Their hymn would likely have been recognized by the mem-bers of the audience, who might have raised their own voices insong, as well. Thus, our somewhat fragmented tale is given a uni-fied ending. The audience, after watching the shepherds enact theirdrama, would have felt part of that small group of embattled butprivileged laborers, and would have witnessed the miracle with them.

The protagonists of the Second Shepherd’s Play begin withcomplaint but go out singing. I can’t think of a more appro-priate metaphor for the close of the fall term: it begins withthe stress and overwork of final papers and projects, but endswith a time marked by celebration, light, warmth, and music.

Happy Holidays!

Below: Joachim in the Desert, Giotto, 14th century

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African Art: “The Eye Is Not Satisfied with Seeing” — Lamin Sanneh

most of us, including this reviewer, to Dirks’s paintings for thefirst time. By any standard, Dirks’s work is striking for its subjectmatter as well for the skill with which he exploits the particularmedium he employs. The subject matter is ordinary Africansin ordinary situations, from the sweeping Cape-to-Cairopanorama of “Rise with the Sun: Women of Africa” inwatercolor and acrylic, to poster reproductions, with the faceslined from routine chores, from the burdens of life and memory,from the dignity of labor. The artist depicts with skill, withcare and devotion, hands as used to support and promote lifeor as symbols of faith and trust, not grasping hands. The lines,colors, shapes and contours depicting these ordinary handsand faces hint at their extraordinary strength and humanity.

The batik-like quality of the paintings, for example, suggeststhe deep imprint men and women leave on the tapestry of life.Even when they do nothing more than struggle with the demandsand challenges of life, they make patterns imbued with theirown deep humanity, and with their connection to an invisiblebut enduring power. The spirit seems to stir in the midst ofpeople who are just standing or sitting still. This resilience anddynamism form a running thread in the works on view, and I donot know Dirks’s work at all apart from this exhibition to beable to say how representative the present collection is. Butwhat the collection shows is a deep abiding humanity in theAfrican people we encounter. Africans are depicted in theirindividuality, not as stereotypes; in their connectedness in societyand in faith, not as tribal cameos; as resolute and committedpersons, not as sideshow freaks. We admire without patronizing;we come respectfully to the figures as bearers of life, wisdom,hope, and dignity, rather than going to them condescendinglyas exotic colorful relics left over from a remote and savage past.Prejudice has little room in the paintings.

There is one particular painting that might stand asmetaphor for the whole. This is the painting of the textileweaver weaving the famous Kente cloth of Ghana. In textiledesign the weaver is an artist in his or her own right. Byblending color, thread, and the patterns of everyday life,the weaver thematizes life’s recurring narrative, with theKente cloth rehearsing and memorializing the passage oflife in its highs and lows. As Marcel Griaule has pointed outin his classic work Conversations with Ogotommeli , theuniverse itself was imbued with passion when it wasfashioned at the Divine Weaver’s loom. Accordingly, festiveand solemn occasions are featured in the themes of Kente,including bereavement, pain, sorrow, trouble, consolation,kinship, reconciliation, success, and generosity. There isno entanglement the web of life can devise for us that cannotbe gathered and restructured in the warp and woof of the

weaver’s craft. The colors, patternsand shapes that come cascading fromthe weaver’s loom allow people tostamp life with their own signaturetheme, and that way to elevateexistence with dignity and meaning.Kente has many names, so that nosituation goes unacknowledged.

In 1950, nearly a half-century after African art - I’art negre -had been “discovered” by avant-garde artists and critics, MarcelGriaule wrote:

In reality, Negro art is beyond our horizons. It issteeped in a climate of which we have noexperience, and about which, in spite ofappearances, we have only a minimum of factualdata . . . As with everything else concerning thecountry, our documentation about themanifestations of art is considerable on thesurface, but in reality rather shallow: so shallowthat it would seem superficial to wish to dealwith it. (Folk Art of Black Africa, 1950, 16,17)

Since Griaule published that rather dispirited view, therehas been a remarkable burst of interest resulting in a greatnumber of valuable works on the subject. Well over eightypercent of the output of articles and books on African artfound in any major reference work appeared after Griaule’sremarks. Much of what has appeared in the generation sincethe end of colonialism has stemmed from genuine admirationfor African arts, and particularly the sculpture of Africa, andfrom an increase in general scholarly engagement with thearts and their role in all societies. That admiration has led tothe increase in the number of private collections, and soimpressive has this sector grown that it amounts to arevolution in taste and appeal. Scholars have refined theircategories of appreciation and understanding, and havedeveloped helpful styles of art appreciation that bring Africanart within the general scope of art appreciation worldwide.

Theory of EstheticsA few words are necessary on esthetics, or the theory of artappreciation, and its relevance to non-Western cultures. Whatis needed is imaginative immersion to break down barriers oftime, space, habit, and expectation. For that reason, we shouldstress the role of any viewer of art who, confronting art,participates in it as an act of imaginative identity. The temporaland spatial boundaries lying between the art object in its originalsetting, the artistic representation of it, and the viewer areremoved with the awareness the viewer brings to the art. Onlythe viewer is aware of the effects a work of art achieves at themoment of apprehension. In the public setting of an exhibition,private space is created to make such immersion possible.

The Experience of AfricaThe ISM exhibition of Ray Dirks’s art work entitled Africa:Made in God’s Image, is not African art as such— that is tosay, art produced by Africans— but, rather, images of Africaas represented by a Western artist. The exhibition introduces

At left: Maasai Moment, by Ray Dirks

Continued on page 4

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ConnecticutSt. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, PO Box 464,East Haddam, CT 06423, Organist/ChoirDirector. Part-time position, approximately 10hours per week. One Sunday morning service,weekly choir rehearsals, and occasionalspecial services and church meetings. Theorgan is a recently refurbished seven rank, twomanual, 1936 Moeller pipe organ with chimes.A 2000 Technics Digital Piano is also available.Salary in the range of $9K - $12K (negotiable)and includes benefits. Contact Linda Taylorat 860-873-9460 or LCTaylor@snet.net. Sendresume and references to the above address.

Out of StateBethany Covenant Church, 1 Covenant Way,Bedford, NH 03110, Organist. Two Sundayservices and a Wednesday evening rehearsal;occasional special services and Saturdayrehearsals. Lead congregational song in avariety of styles from classic to contemporary.Strong organ and piano skills are necessaryas well as ability to work with otherinstruments (brass groups, strings,woodwinds, a rhythm section) and with aconductor; must be flexible and able to workwith last minute changes. $10,000 - $15,000/yr. commensurate with skill, experience, andeducation/training. Complete job description

can be found at www.BethanyCovenant.com.Candidates should submit a resume to theattention of Rick Kopituk, Minister of Musicat the above address or fax to 603-472-8821,E-mail: Rick@BethanyCovenant.Com. Call603-472-5545 for more information.

Second Presbyterian Church, 3701Old Brownsboro Road, Louisville,Kentucky, 40207. Full-time Director ofMusic Ministries. Organist, 30 memberSanctuary Choir, Children’s Choirs,youth music, youth and adult bellchoirs. 1400-member church formedin 1837 with heritage of excellencein traditional sacred music. Endowedmusic budget. Outstandingacoustical sanctuary with 3 manual,44 rank Casavant organ (1981, fullyrenovated in 2001); Schlicker 2manual 7 rank organ in Chapel;Steinway concert grand, harpsichord,5 octave set of Schulmerich handbells, 3 octave set of Malmark handchimes. Experience in w orkingcollegially with church staff,volunteers, and musicians isessential. Graduate Degree preferredin choral conducting or organperformance, or Sacred Music. Salaryand benefits package commensurate

African textiles represent a particular medium of artisticexpression. The making and use of cloth are not just forpractical reasons. A bride is conveyed to her new home adornedin woven and dyed cloth frilled and tasseled with embroideredsilk; a mother cradles her child with a cloth wrap of ancestralpower; a hunter girds his loin with braided strips of consecratedcloth; a dancer’s colorful headdress moves and flows topulsating chant; the spirits of the departed return in patternedcostumes festooned with Madonna medals; and old and youngcelebrate life in garments designed for the purpose. Weaversand dyers accordingly employ their craft to explore forms andidioms in terms of concepts and ironies. Textiles exist not justto make clothes and accessories for people to wear and to usebut to display forms and skills for people to admire andappropriate, from the Ghanaian kente, adwinasa, and adinkra,the Yoruba adire and aso oke, to the Malian bogolan and EastAfrican kanga. Thus have tapestries, costumes, and batikdesigns, with a dynamic range covering the ethnic andvernacular as well as the abstract and cosmopolitan,proliferated in all parts of Africa. (See John Picton, The Art ofAfrican Textiles: Technology, Tradition and Lurex, London: BarbicanArt Gallery: Lund Humphries Publishers, 1995.) Made in thepeople’s image, art is a living testament of humanity’s perennialspirit, and from the loom of his own sensitive hands, Ray Dirkshas shown the range and durability of that perennial theme.

Viewing and the Gift of SeeingIn the New York Times review of the Baulé exhibition held sometime ago at the Yale Art Gallery, called “Beyond Beauty, Artthat Takes Action” (New York Times, Sunday, September 28,1997), the point was made that the exhibition was “a gatheringof astonishingly beautiful objects; a radical rethinking of

traditional museum presentations of art; and, perhaps, mostimportant, a suggested model for a new kind of art history inwhich the very act of seeing art is redefined.” The reviewerthen shifted the focus to the value of Baulé art, saying theBaulé have no single word for art as a privileged class of objectsset apart for contemplation. They value the work they makefar less for what it looks like than for what it can do, sociallyor spiritually, to assure stability or positive change within thecommunity. “This sense of spiritual animation,” the reviewwent on, “invests a visual culture with a rich emotional charge.”

In the West, a typical art audience is an economic criticalmass, a unit of market value, not primarily a community ofappreciation and understanding. Art reinforces what JohnRuskin otherwise infelicitously called the tendency towards“academical discrimination,” towards that kind of formalabstraction that ends up tearing up art from its roots in societyand commitment. It has been a long time since Western artturned its back on the holy and transcendent.

The New York Times review proceeded to talk about Africanvisual culture and its notions of emotional charge, conflict,

African Art continued from page 3

Continued on page 5

Another Facet of African Art

Tiensae Teshome enjoys the mesneko music ofSettegn Atenaw at the November reception for theAfrica: Made in God's Image exhibition.

P L A C E M E N T L I S T I N G S

Above: Market Watch, by Ray Dirks

with qualifications and experience. Sendresume to Music Search Committee2ndpres@bellsouth.net or fax to 502-897-9025. Call 502-895-3483 for information.

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tension, and wariness, yet talked about these things only inrelation to the viewer, not in relation to the objects themselves.But once we shift to the objects as such, we notice somethingso obvious it scarcely needs pointing out. As we look aroundthe Dirks exhibition we notice the attention the artist hasdevoted to the human face, and particularly to the eyes. In asignificant number of paintings, the eyes are restrained, heldin thoughtful suspense, shaded by a turban or headscarf, orturned away in contemplation. In some the open eyes aresuperseded by a blank stare, and in others they reflect meaningand purpose. The pieces “Guardian of Forgotten History” and“Proud Maasai,” for example, show the eyes full of pride andknowledge. In “Souk Silence” depicting a market scene, theeyes are not even marked, though the figures in close encountersuggest presence and awareness. In “Amina and Her Daughter,”the eyes speak eloquently of the bond of life and family. In theother paintings, the face in its suggested mass and weightsubmits with a poise or with reverential stillness to the focusmaintained by the eyes. Wisdom is in the eyes, and the headconcurs with the need for it. Thoughts are legible and voicesaudible in the eye. Notice what little space is given to speakingor talking in the paintings, as if we do not have to be loquaciousto be truly human. In the typical worship scene, the mouth isclosed while communication of the most urgent andfundamental kind is taking place. This is not silence as worship,or worship as silence, but the silence of the communion of

African Art continued from page 4 life, in which we pause to receive from God ourselves as wenever knew us. “Souk Silence” would make a natural transitionto a pause for Friday worship in the mosque, for example. Asstated in the calligraphic inscription of a cotton appliqué byan Egyptian textile artist, “Say it to the one who knows it all:you might have comprehended something, but many thingsremain hidden to you - hafizta shay’an wa ghábat ‘anka ashyá’u.”(Cited in Picton, The Art of African Textiles, 1995, 61.) It is, Ithink, this deft contrast of seeing as sacred knowing, andspeaking as profane distraction, that so much of African art inits spiritual intention exists to convey.

Dirks entered the world of Africa a stranger, but hasemerged a stranger no more. The scrutinizing eyes of thepaintings, accordingly, make retreat uncomfortable andrecognition inescapable. Perhaps the message of the paintingsfor all humanity is to replace thestranger with the image ofrecognition, and physical retreatwith imaginative sympathy.

Lamin Sanneh is D. Willis JamesProfessor of Missions and WorldChristianity at Yale DivinitySchool, and Professor of Historyat Yale. For his academic work hewas made Commandeur de l’OrdreNational du Lion, Senegal’shighest national honor.

Notes on the StaffThere have been several changes and additions to the ISM staff recently.

Sarah Hare (ISM/YDS ’02) joined the staff on a temporary basisback in August. In addition to working at the ISM, Sarah is a pastorat Pilgrim United Church of Christ, and she is currently seeking ordi-nation in the Methodist Church. Sarah hopes to pursue a career innon-profit management. According to those who share her office,Sarah often bullies them into attending various Happy Hours, dabblesin painting and enjoys playing with her dog.

Robert Honstein, on leave from Yale College where he studiescomposition, has been the ISM/YDS AV guru for the last several months.He is a member of the Whiffenpoofs, and recently traveled with themto Los Angeles to shoot three scenes for the Christmas episode of TV’sThe West Wing (episode airing Wednesday, December 11). The groupalso appeared on NBC’s Today Show. In the future, he will be returningto his Yale studies (unless he succumbs to Hollywood’s siren song).

Louise Johnson joined the ISM staff temporarily after moving withher husband to Connecticut to pursue a law career in New York City,having recently received her JD from the University of San Francisco.While job-hunting and eagerly awaiting the results of the NY Bar Exam(which she passed with flying colors), she keeps the ISM office runningsmoothly. Her predilection for pink and her Martha Stewart-like perfectionism add a tinge of joyful drama to the office at-mosphere. She loves cats and has rescued many, including theseven that live with her. Some day soon, Louise hopes to be ahotshot NYC securities regulation lawyer so that she can beclose to her third love: The Polo Store.

Jenna-Claire Kemper, who has been and administra-tive assistant with the ISM for over two months now, is arecent graduate of the Yale School of Music. She is a nativeof Salem, Virginia, and came to New Haven after having re-ceived a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Salem College, anda Master’s degree in Music from the North Carolina Schoolof the Arts. A dedicated church musician, Jenna currentlysings in the choir at Christ Church Episcopal. Recently mar-

ried, Jenna and her husband, also a graduate of the Yale School ofMusic, currently reside here in New Haven.

Trish Radil joined the staff in October to support the MarquandChapel program and the ISM faculty. A New Haven native, she hasalways had a great love for art and music. “Yale has always been abig part of my life, especially in regards to music: from my pianotutor at age ten to my present classical guitar teacher, who are bothYale graduates. Currently I am in college studying art education, andI still enjoy practicing visual arts, guitar, and vocal music.”

Sachin Ramabhadran joined the ISM this month as the newISM/YDS Media Tech. Sachin recently graduated from Boston Uni-versity with an undergraduate degree in Communications with a con-centration in video production. Aside from his video skills, he is alsoan avid musician with interests in audio recording and drums. Hereports that he is an avid hockey fan and World War II buff.

The ISM staff also includes V. Lynette Mitchell, Business and Fa-cilities Manager and Administrator for Student Affairs; Terese Cain,Audio-Visual Producer and Director; Melissa Maier, Manager of Projectsand Publications; and Gale Pollen, Senior Administrative Assistant.

The ISM welcomes its new staff members to the team! And watchfor more additions to our growing staff in the coming months.

Left to right: Trish Radil, Sarah Hare, Terese Cain, Margot Fassler,Lynette Mitchell, Gale Pollen, Robert Honstein, Louise Johnson,Sachin Ramabhadran, Jenna-Claire Kemper, and Melissa Maier

Yale Institute of Sacred Music409 Prospect StreetNew Haven, CT 06511-2167

The faculty, students, and staffof the ISMwish you

the blessings ofthe Christmas season!

Yale Institute of Sacred MusicPresents

Up with a Shout! ReduxGala Interfaith Receptionand Film Screening

Feature presentation:ISM videoA Congregational Psalm-Singin the Dutch Reformed Style

Previews of coming attractions:Psalmody in the USA

Sunday, February 23, 2003United Church on the Green(corner Elm and Temple Sts, New Haven)5 pm

Information at 203/432-5180